Category: Right Conduct

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Wal-Mart Could Easily Pay $12 an Hour

I referenced this same article in a previous blog, but I think it is important enough to pull out by itself.

“Raising the pay of Wal-Mart’s U.S. workers to a minimum of $12 an hour would lift many out of poverty, reduce their reliance on public assistance, and cost the average consumer, at most, $12.49 a year.

That’s the conclusion of a new study published by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education.  The study is primarily concerned with the question of how raising Wal-Mart’s wages would affect poor families, including both those who work at its stores and those who shop at them.  The benefits to poor families, the study concludes, would far exceed the costs. “

Read the whole article at Wal-Mart Could Easily Pay $12 an Hour

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Teachers’ newest online worry: cyberbaiting

As if teaching in today’s environment is not hard enough!  It seems that any technology humans come up with, someone finds a way to pervert it.  I do know that the school system where my significant other teaches has a policy prohibiting teachers from interacting with students on social sites.  Apparently, it is for some very good reasons.

Below is a link to an article about cyberbaiting (why does that sound so nasty) at eSchool News

Teachers’ newest online worry: cyberbaiting

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Vote with your $$, Vote with your feet, Move your bank accounts

As I touched on in Banks, Boobs, Bamboozled I moved my checking account.  I had been with Bank of America.  I initially signed up with them when I moved to a new town and I was in hurry to get a bank.  The more I learned about BoA, the unhappier I became with banking there.  I stayed with BoA much too long due to inertia. It is a pain changing banks.  But I finally bit the bullet and made the change.  I chose Regions as they have branches in both St. Louis and Memphis.  I had only been with them a few months when they decided they just had to charge their customers for use of their debit cards. (They have since reversed that decision, but they have lost my trust)  I immediately started the process of changing banks.  I went with the local company credit union.  Much to my surprise there is a network of ATMs that I can use free of charge available to credit unions. Continue reading “Vote with your $$, Vote with your feet, Move your bank accounts”

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Football and Priorities

I will not go into much detail as it is all over the news, but there is a child sexual abuse scandal unfolding at Penn State involving a former assistant coach who worked under Joe Paterno.  Apparently at least one of the alleged incidences happened in the team locker room and Paterno was aware of it.   It also seems the President of the University, Graham Spanier was also aware, and a cover up ensued.

Paterno had announced that he would retire at the end of the season and there is one more game to go.  The university trustees unanimously voted to fire both men for the good of Penn State University.  The news described a “riot” last Continue reading “Football and Priorities”

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War is a Racket

“War is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.”

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, in 1935

Who is Smedley Butler? Wikipedia starts off as follows: “…nicknamed ‘The Fighting Quaker’ and ‘Old Gimlet Eye’, was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps, and at the time of his death the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career as a Marine, he participated in military actions in the Philippines, China, in Central America and the Caribbean during the Banana Wars, and France in World War I. By the end of his career he had received 16 medals, five of which were for heroism. He is one of 19 people to twice receive the Medal of Honor, one of three to be awarded both the Marine Corps Brevet Medal and the Medal of Honor, and the only person to be awarded the Brevet Medal and two Medals of Honor, all for separate actions.”

If there ever was a man that knew war he has to be among the elite.  The quote is the start of his book, War is a Racket, published in 1935.  Continue reading “War is a Racket”

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Less Is More????

One of the advantages of being a computer gypsy of the last decade or so is not accumulating a lot of “stuff”. I have wanted some things then wondered where the heck was I going to put it. I also worry about having to move stuff. I will admit I cannot get on board with digitized books. I love my books. Of course, my brother threatened to not help me move again as he carried box after box of books up three flights of stairs.

The speaker highlighted a question I have been asking myself for years, “Is my life really going to be that much better if I spend my hard earned money on this —fill in the blank—.”  Remember the old saw about stuff owning us rather than we owning stuff? Of course George Carlin would tell you that “his stuff is stuff, and your stuff is shit.”

Something to think about.

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Controversial Photo Spread Glamorizes Domestic Abuse?

I probably have a different view than most as my ex was director of a battered woman’s shelter for several years.  After that she worked troubled teens who often were the target of domestic violence.  That is when I first realized that men can be and frequently are pigs when it comes to relating to women.  That is in good measure why I do not find these things even vaguely humorous.   We all need to be treating each other with love and respect.  Can you imagine what sort of world that would be… to paraphrase Lennon.

Controversial Photo Spread Glamorizes Domestic Abuse?  Link removed

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Bigotry – Confront or Ignore?

What does one do when confronted with bigotry/ignorance?  I have a black friend that when he talks about bigots prefers to refer to them as ignorant people.  I think he is right.  Bigotry is frequently due to ignorance.  I do know that this is not always the case, but I prefer to think that most folks just need a little education.  I also believe that it is not a good thing to let such attitudes go unchallenged.  To do so is to perpetuate the ignorance.

Several years ago I took a job in the Deep South.  I had previously been living in the Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas triangle.  There were several things that shocked or bothered me when I first moved south.  One of the primary ones was the use of the “N” word.  Continue reading “Bigotry – Confront or Ignore?”